It is no secret that Robert Kubica and his Italian agent Alessandro Alunni Bravo are working overtime to try secure the popular Polish driver a place in Formula 1 for 2019, with Haas emerging as their target for a spot on the 2019 grid that is very scarce of seats.
Why wait a year? Why not give it to him this season?
Diario Motorsport journo Américo Teixeira Junior reports that, although there is no official word from either camp, talks are beyond the “Hello, how are you?” stage.
Kubica is an intriguing subject. Had the world been a fairytale kinda place, after his accident, he would have been racing for Williams this season with a fantastic car.
Instead for the reasons we all know, he watches F1 on TV from the confines of the Williams pit garage. No doubt what he sees makes him thank his lucky stars that it is not he toiling in the car that terrorises Lance Stroll and Sergey Sirotkin every race weekend.
The Williams FW41 has been described as “evil” by team chief Claire Williams, while tech boss Paddy Lowe talks in tongues about hitherto never experienced aerodynamics phenomenon.
But facts are facts, the first car that Lowe built as tech guru at Grove was summed up aptly by one of their former drivers: “It’s a shitbox!”
The reality is that the two youngsters they currently have in the car are hopelessly out of their depth in trying to sort out a rubbish chassis, they simply do not have the experience to kick-start a turnaround or a fix of sorts.
Inevitably the question arises: Would Kubica have done a better job had he been in the car since the beginning of the season when testing kicked off in Barcelona earlier this year?
At the same time, the harsh reality is whether Kubica is an appropriate measure amid current F1 driver standards as he last raced in a previous era. One in which cars and races were very different. Normally aspirated engines, no DRS, other aero rules, different tyres etc. etc. etc.
And of course the elephant in the room: his obvious disability.
Under the circumstances, how qualified is he now, after almost a decade of self-imposed exile from Formula 1, to be considered as a saviour for the beleaguered team?
Even Kubica himself, when embarking on his new journey back to the top flight, warned that he should be treated as a rookie.
Despite only getting occasional outings in free practice and testing so far this season, Kubica’s shares are in a good place yet no team has actually had the chutzpah or guts or balls or whatever to take a chance with the one-time grand prix winner.
Meanwhile, it is no secret that Haas have a serious problem: the VF18 is the fourth best car on the grid – Best of the Rest is where they belong this season, but Romain Grosjean insists on binning it when and wherever he can.
The Frenchman in auto-destruct mode has resulted in his shares dropping so low that you can only applaud the patience shown by the American team’s bosses with regards to their wayward French veteran of 132 grand prix starts. The bills are mounting rapidly…
Step up Kubica and agent Bravo…
All it would take is a call to Guenther Steiner and a proposal: “Please give Robert simulator time throughout the summer break, assess him during this period. If he ticks all the boxes give him a six-race deal to prove himself starting at Spa-Francorchamps for the Belgian Grand Prix.”
At the same time, Grosjean takes a much-needed sabbatical to take stock of his career and a proper reality check.
If Robert does the business Haas could say au revoir to the expensive Frenchman, if Robert flops then step-up again Romain but keep it clean.
It would certainly be poetic justice if Haas opened the door to Kubica and gave him that opportunity, after all ten years ago the Pole had inked a deal to race for Ferrari but life was cruel to him and it never happened.
Fast-forward to now, the prospect of Kubica in a Ferrari powered Formula 1 car is still a tangible dream.
So, come on Gene Haas get with the programme and give Robert a shot! What have you got to lose?
Big Question: What does Haas have to lose by dropping Romain and trying out Robert?